Winnipeg’s hopes to get back in the NHL jumped again, as the league issued an ultimatum to the city of Glendale – find a buyer for the Phoenix Coyotes by Dec. 31 or we will sell them to someone we have waiting to buy and move the team.

The threat is included in the agreement between the NHL and the suburban Phoenix city in which the city agreed to pay up to $25-million (all currency U.S.) of the Coyotes’ operating losses for the 2010-11 season. That agreement was completed on Friday and a copy was obtained by The Globe and Mail.

There was no mention of the prospective buyer in the agreement but the only buyers the NHL has admitted speaking to in connection with the Coyotes, aside from Jerry Reinsdorf and the Ice Edge group who both want to keep the Coyotes in Arizona, are Canadian billionaire David Thomson and Mark Chipman, the CEO of True North Sports and Entertainment, who own and operate the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Flyers forwards Ian Laperriere and Jeff Carter will return to the lineup for this afternoon’s crucial Game 4 against Montreal at the Bell Centre, the club confirmed this morning (3:00 p.m., NBC).

Carter has not played since April 20 in New Jersey, when the Flyers defeated the Devils in Game 4 of their first round series. Carter suffered a fractured right foot when he was hit by a Chris Pronger slap shot, while Laperriere blocked a puck with his face in the clinching Game 5 on April 22, causing a brain contusion and mild concussion. Both players were thought at one point to be lost for the season.

Laperriere will likely play in his regular spot on the fourth line with Blair Betts and Darroll Powe, replacing Andreas Nodl.

In the midst of the mayhem that is playoff hockey, Mike Cammalleri is an island of order.

Look at his sticks and they are neatly numbered. He’s up to 85 on the season now.

Look at his skates and they, too, are numbered. He’s on pair No. 7 now.

Not superstitious, just ordered.

“Now I know these are No. 7s, so I don’t mix up this right one with a left one that’s not, you know what I mean? It’s that simple,” he said. “I’ll score a goal with a stick, and if the other one feels better the next period, I’ll use it. It’s all feel.”

Both sides have announced a “memorandum of understanding”. This is not a transfer agreement. it isn’t clear how much of an agreement it is at all. Here is the KHL announcement of the agreement. There is no big NHL announcement on the internet.

Through more connections, John Correia also was able to book a table at a private restaurant known as 9-4-10, named in honour of three of the all-time great Canadiens - Maurice (The Rocket) Richard, Beliveau, and Guy Lafleur.

Only season-ticket holders, members and invited guests are permitted inside. John Correia’s friend, Louis Nicoletti, a long-time season-ticket holder, was able to finangle a table for them prior to the game.

We’re talking exclusive company here….

And over to Beliveau’s table they went.

“When I stood at the table, there was a feeling that you were in the company of royalty. There was an aura. I could sense his charisma, and his big, soft, beautiful smile,” McCarron said. “As soon as he gave me that, I moved right in. I’m like a five-year-old at this point.

“I said, ‘Mr. Beliveau, I’ve been a fan of yours for 55 years. Every Saturday night in my household it was B B B - beans, bass and Beliveau. I laid on the floor of the TV room and waited for you to come on TV.”

What now is to regroup and come back with the same effort. There’s really nothing else we can do. I was really happy with the way our team played to a man, whether it was from goaltender, D man, forwards. We made a few mistakes. They scored some goals. I thought it was a helluva game.

The reality is we’re down 3-0. Happened a week ago with two good teams playing and Philadelphia found a way to come back, so there’s something to draw in there. Plus the fact that we’ve been in this series I think for every minute. That’s got to leave us feeling good.

When your team is deep into the NHL playoffs, little things can make the difference between victory and defeat. Things like financial advisor Bobby Lanctot shedding his cursed Carey Price jersey and wearing the vintage white one to cheer on the Canadiens. Or waiter Joe Hayward travelling from Fredericton to Montreal’s Bell Centre and improving his playoff record to seven Habs’ victories, zero defeats in games he has watched. Or aerospace worker Maureen Cowie, watching the game in solitude at home, reciting lines from the inspirational speech that spurred the 1980 U.S. Olympic team to victory.

Our brains tell us that the outcome of games is up to the players alone, but our hearts sense otherwise. Devoted hockey fans, like those of other sports, can’t shake the belief that their actions might influence the outcome of the game. Where they sit, what they wear, even how their toddler is dressed are game-day decisions as crucial as the coach’s starting lineup.

“Nobody’s feeling sorry for us,” noted Sharks centerman Joe Thornton after the 3-2 overtime loss. “There are 13 teams in each conference that would love to be still playing right now.”

Indeed, nobody should feel sorry for them. But what somebody might do is send them a detailed chart explaining how to get more pucks past Chicago goalie Antti Niemi. They have put 118 pucks on net against him over three games, including 44 on Friday. They have five total goals in the three games.

Ultimately, that’s why the Sharks are losing the series. It’s not the goals they are giving up. It’s the ones they are not scoring. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Sharks won every time they scored at least three goals. They haven’t scored three against Chicago. So the goals the Sharks give up are that much more devastating.

The Canadiens are playing their 100th game of the season this afternoon, only four fewer than the number they had to play when they won their last Stanley Cup 17 seasons ago.

I mention this only because No. 100 is more important than all of the previous 99.

Win, and life is grand, because the Canadiens would return to Philadelphia with the Eastern Conference final locked up 2-2 and a real chance to get to their first Cup final since 1993, The Year of Patrick Roy.

Lose, and despite the team’s stunning heroics coming back as they did against Washington and Pittsburgh, they’re on a slippery slope down 3-1 in the series.

Worse, they’re returning to the City of Brotherly Tough Love, where they failed to score even once during the first two games.

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